Who your club could poach under free agency Jon Ralph
From: Herald Sun
August 10, 2011CHRIS JUDD described next year's free agency as "Mickey Mouse'' on Monday and in some ways he is right.
A raft of caveats are attached to keep clubs happy, including teams being able to match offers - and therefore keep stars - if a player has only eight or nine years of service, and are also in the top 25 per cent pay bracket at his club.
Therefore it is the ten-year stars where the real action will happen at the end of next year.
And for battling clubs, that is where Mick Malthouse's prophecy about raids from the AFL's superpowers could come true.
If a player is out of contract after 10 years at one club, his existing team has no rights to keep him.
Just as a player like Chris Tarrant went to Collingwood for the base wage this year, players could go chasing premierships.
So who is available?
Who could your club poach at the end of next year without their club matching their deal?
Below is the list of players who get to ten years service next year.
How about Brendon Goddard for a start?
He had a contract until 2010 which was extended until the end of 2012, which in principle means he will have served ten years at St Kilda and be an unrestricted free agent.
No wonder clubs including GWS will come with massive offers for him.
The problem with the first year of free agency for 10-year players is that players need to have come out of contract in the past two years to qualify as unrestricted free agents.
In other words, they need to have officially qualified as a restricted free agents (eight years' service), before they are restricted free agents with 10 years' service.
Goddard, who extended his contract before it expired, would seem to tick that box.
A player, who after six years signs a four-year deal, is only a restricted free agent when that deal expires.
Bloody confusing, isnt it?
A raft of players who qualify for 10 years of service won't have first been restricted free agents, or are contracted past the end of 2011.
Nick Dal Santo, Alan Didak and Hamish McIntosh only come out of contract at the end of 2012.
Matthew Pavlich recently re-signed a four-year deal.
Kade Simpson signed another three-year deal only last week.
So it's not just who has hit 10 years, it's who is available.
But for the sake of the exercise, here are all the players who hit the 10-year mark, and will have rival clubs salivating when they do come out of contract.
From the 2002 national draft:Brendon Goddard, Daniel Wells, Jarrad McVeigh, Steven Salopek, Andrew Mackie, Hamish McIntosh, Jason Winderlich, Will Minson, Tom Lonergan, Jared Rivers, Daniel Merrett, Jobe Watson, Brett Ebert, Kade Simpson, Adam Selwood, Ryan Crowley, Nick Malceski, Ben Rutten, Aaron Sandilands, Quinten Lynch, Mark Jamar, Bret Thornton, Roger Hayden.
2001 national draft:Luke Hodge, Jimmy Bartel, Nick Dal Santo, Rick Ladson, James Kelly, Jason Gram, Sam Mitchell, Leigh Montagna, Jarrad Waite, Andrew Welsh, Brian Lake.
2000 national draft:Nick Riewoldt, Justin Koschitzke, Alan Didak, Daniel Kerr, Drew Petrie, Josh Hunt, Chris Newman, Daniel Cross, Graham Johncock, Dean Cox.
1999 national draft:Matthew Pavlich, Rhyce Shaw, Brad Green, Jason Blake, Jonathan Brown, Paul Chapman.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/who-your-club-could-poach-under-free-agency/story-fn6cisdj-1226111932297
